Opinion
No. 02 Cr. 322-01 (RWS)
September 20, 2002
SENTENCING OPINION
Defendant Richard Cedeno ("Cedeno") pleaded guilty on February 13, 2002 to misuse of a passport, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1544 and 2. For the reasons set forth below, Cedeno's sentence will consist of 15 months in federal custody, to be followed by three years supervised release subject to the sentencing hearing now set for September 23, 2002. The sentence is to run consecutively with his undischarged term of imprisonment imposed on February 19, 2002 in New York County Supreme Court. A special assessment fee of $100 is mandatory and will be due immediately.
The Defendant
Cedeno was born on February 23, 1963 in Manhattan. He is one of fourteen children born to Ramon Cedeno and Auristela Antomarchi. His father reportedly died in 1994 of a heart attack and his mother, age 82, is a homemaker. Cedeno's father maintained steady employment as a general laborer during Cedeno's childhood. Most of Cedeno's siblings reside in the New York metropolitan area.
Cedeno completed 10th grade at George Washington High School in Manhattan and did not undertake further studies. Cedeno is skilled in general maintenance, masonry and plumbing and is fluent in Spanish. He has little verifiable employment history and has never filed federal income tax returns.
In 1994 Cedeno married Taj Majal Lawton whom he divorced in 1995. In 1995 he had a child, Martha Cedeno, with Venus Bolt in New York City. Martha is now seven years old and lives with her mother in Albany, New York. In 1996, Cedeno married Joanne Rivera from whom he separated in 1997.
Cedeno has a lengthy history of substance abuse, beginning with marijuana when he was sixteen years old, followed by cocaine use in the late 1980's through 1991. From 1996 to 2001, Cedeno reportedly used heroin often. The instant offense represents Cedeno's sixth arrest and sixth conviction. Cedeno's criminal activity since February 1990 appears to have been fueled by his drug addiction.
The Offense
The investigation of this offense was conducted by the United States State Department ("State Department") in 2001. A passport bearing Cedeno's name was used by another individual attempting entry into the United States at Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey. The passport photo of Cedeno had been substituted and the individual attempting entry was arrested by the Immigration and Naturalization Service on January 12, 2001. In an interview with the State Department on February 8, 2001, Cedeno admitted that he sold a United States passport to an individual who Cedeno knew planned to use it to bring illegal aliens to the United States from the Dominican Republic. Cedeno received $200 in exchange for his passport in September 2000, shortly after he obtained it from a government passport processing center. (Cedeno was arrested on October 4, 2001 by the New York City Police Department pursuant to an unrelated case. Cedeno was transferred to federal custody on January 22, 2002 pursuant to a writ of habeas corpus and remains in custody to date.)
Cedeno pleaded guilty to the instant offense on February 13, 2002.
The Guidelines
Section 2L2.l of the United States Sentencing Guidelines (the "Guidelines") applies to the offense charged and calls for a base offense level of 11. A two-level decrease is warranted based on Cedeno's acceptance of responsibility for the offense, see U.S.S.G. 3E1.1(a), (b), yielding an adjusted offense level of 9.
Because of his criminal history giving Cedeno eight criminal history points, Cedeno's Criminal History Category under the Guidelines is W. According to the Guidelines, the range for a defendant with a total offense level of 9 and a criminal history category of IV is 12 to 18 months.
The Sentence
Cedeno will be sentenced to 15 months imprisonment. This term is to be followed by three years of supervised release. Cedeno is to report to the nearest Probation Office within 72 hours of release from custody, and supervision shall be in the district of residence. As mandatory conditions of supervised release, Cedeno shall (1) not commit another federal', state, or local crime; (2) not illegally possess a controlled substance; and (3) not possess a firearm or destructive devise. Cedeno shall also abide by the standard conditions of supervision (1-13).
The sentence is to run consecutively with his undischarged term of imprisonment imposed on February 19, 2002, in New York County Supreme Court.
No fine will be imposed due to Cedeno's lack of financial resources at this time. However, a special assessment fee of $100 will be due immediately.
This sentence is subject to modification at the sentencing hearing now set for September 23, 2002.
It is so ordered.